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20 Ways to Influence a Child's Intelligence

By ACS Distance Education on December 3, 2015 in Psychology | comments

The most successful interventions are those that begin early and take place at home, involving parents/main caregivers. As you will see from this, many of the suggestions are closely linked to language development. Parents can become involved in the following ways:

Birth to twelve months

  • Look at the baby – facial contact is very important.  Mothers who face their children when playing with them or feeding with them are less likely to use physical punishment.  The visual signs that the child receives from your face are important for their development.
  • Have conversations – Talk to the child, smile, and laugh. The child learns important lessons; you smile, they smile back.  They are also finding a way to communicate with you and coming to terms with the world around them.
  • Read to the baby – Your voice is soothing. The child will see new colours and objects. No child is ever too young to be read to.
  • Follow the child’s lead – A child should be learning what he/she wants to learn, not what you want them to learn, so take your lead from them.

Twelve months onwards

Encouraging any of the following activities throughout childhood can help development of mind as well as body.

  •     Continue to develop their language -maintain dialogue with a child by taking time to listen, ask questions, seek a response to confirm the child hears you
  •     Play with your child – playing is an important way to learn.
  •     Encourage use of Building blocks – this develops manual dexterity (eg. lego)
  •     Encourage doing jigsaws – for manual dexterity
  •     Playing with other children – particularly imprtant from 4 or 5 years of age to develop socialization skills, turn taking, communication, good behaviour
  •     Encourage physical play – running, jumping – coordination, muscular development
  •     Playing with water – lessons about floating, dripping, mixing, pouring
  •     Dough – manual dexterity
  •     Sandpit – pouring, moulding
  •     Domestic chores – imaginary play with brushes and so on
  •     Dressing up – imagination, dressing skills
  •     Dolls – both sexes like playing with dolls of one kind of another.  
  •     Mimicking parents - communication.
  •     Drawing – encourage manual dexterity, pencil control
  •     Music – rhythm, tone, manual dexterity
  •     Playing alone – encourage your child to learn autonomy and encourage self-amusement